1. Field of the Invention
The present disclosure generally relates to providing security for a site. In particular, the present disclosure relates to non-intrusive identification and tracking of individuals throughout a site.
2. Description of the Related Art
There is a growing need for security in our world. As a result, buildings that were once open to the public are now restricted to authorized personnel. Offices, shopping malls, airports, and other public places need to track individuals while they are on site. Offices often have badges and sometimes have fingerprint readers for employee access. Shopkeepers in malls have closed circuit television cameras to detect shoplifting of merchandise. Airports restrict access to authorized personnel beyond certain checkpoints, while other areas are open to the public. For example, an airline employee gains access when his badge is seen by a security guard at a checkpoint and passengers gain access to a plane after stopping and handing a boarding pass to a clerk at another checkpoint.
Checkpoints are used in many environments to control access in specific areas. Initial checkpoints often are the only formal security check. Most checkpoints are located at the periphery of the controlled area, like walls guarding a fort, a moat around a castle, or customs personnel at the border. However, this leads to poor security performance. Once an unauthorized person or object gains access into the controlled area past a checkpoint, by deception, by not being detected, by climbing a wall, or by slipping in through a backdoor, the person typically is not interrogated by any other security system. The most common reason checkpoints let unauthorized personnel into the controlled area is that they rely on human judgment.
Biometrics is sometimes used at an initial checkpoint. Biometrics is the science and technology of measuring and statistically analyzing biological data. In information technology, biometrics usually refers to technologies for measuring and analyzing human body characteristics such as fingerprints, eye retinas and irises, voice patterns, facial patterns, and hand measurements, especially for authentication purposes. Fingerprint identification and iris scanning are intrusive, create long lines, require a pre-established database, and are not easily used within a controlled area. Also, they are only used for tracking humans, not objects. Some biometric systems tend to be focused on a particular method to the exclusion of other methods. Face scans are limited in their ability to work if a camera is in the wrong position or in a position different from an original position.
There is a need for a non-intrusive way to identify individuals so that they do not have to carry anything and do not have to stop and do something at a checkpoint. After an initial checkpoint, there is a need for tracking individuals throughout a site. For example, when someone walks out of a controlled area into somewhere without a tracking device, such as a washroom and then walks back into the controlled area, their identity needs to be re-established. There is a need for predicting events at later checkpoints based on events at earlier checkpoints. There is a need for a system accommodating new and different types of sensors. There is a need for automating various tasks of security guards to increase their productivity.